Territory



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. T. A. FRASER.

TRACK CLEANER. No. 369,986. Patented Sept. 13, 1887.

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(No Model.) I 2 SheetsSheet 2. T. A. FRASER.

TRACK CLEANER. No. 369,986. Patented Sept. 13, 1887.

THOMAS ALEXANDER FRASER, OF MITCHELL, DAKOTA TERRITORY.

TRACK-CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 369,985, datedSeptember 13, 1887 Application filed April 16, 1887. Serial No. 235,118.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS ALEXANDER FRASER, of Mitchell, in the countyof Davison and Territory of Dakota,have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Track- Oleaners, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to track-cleaners; and it consists of variousfeatures and details hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of the track-cleaner;Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section of the same, and Fig. 3 a viewillustrating certain details.

The primary object of the invention is to provide means for removingsnow from railway-tracks; and to this end it involves in itsconstruction a car with an inclined front wall, a chamber beneath thecar, a scraper or shovel at the rear of the car and the horizontalchamber, devices for regulating and adjusting the scraper or shovel, anda discharge trough or chute.

A indicates a box-car containing at its rear a housing-box, B, the frontwall, 0, of which slopes or inclines backwardly from the roof of thecar, as shown, and terminates at the floor. The side walls, a, and theroof extend forward beyond the wall 0 to form a chamber, D, the frontend of which is left open and unobstructed. This forms a mouth orchamber at the front end of the car, into which air is forced orgathered as the car is moving along. The side walls, a, of the car arealso extended downward at each side throughout the length of the car,nearly to the rails, as shown in Fig. 2, and, together with the floor ofthe car,

form a passage or chamber, E. The floor of as indicated by the arrows.

the car of course terminates at the point where it meets the inclinedwall 0, so as to allow the air to strike against the latter and be by itdeflected into the chamber E beneath. the car, The air gathered into thelarge-mouthed chamber D is forced through the eomparatively-contractedchamber E at a Very high Velocity.

Extending from the rear end of the car is a beam or support, F, (one ormore,) to which, by means of bolts or other devices, is secured aplatform or flooring, G, the latter being carried at its lower inner endby means of hangers or (No model.)

braces H, secured to the sills of the car at its rear end; Upon theflooring G is firmly bolted or otherwise secured the concavedischargetrough l, which extends from the rear end of the car near thetrack to the outer end of the flooring or beams G, the outer end of theconveyer-trough being somewhat higher than its inner end. This troughmaybe made of wood or iron, as preferred. The flooring G, supporting theconveyer-trough, is further braced by irons J, which are preferablyattached to the irons H, as shown in Fig. 2.

K indicates a rock-shaft extending across the rear of the chamber E andsupported at each end in bearings L, carried by the irons or braces Hand J, as shown in Fig. 2, said shaft L being provided with aninclinedforwardly-extending shovel or scraper, M. The shovel or scraper Mextends downward below the line of the top of the rails, but not so lowas to come into contact with the ties, the downward movement of thescraper being limited by laterally-extending lugs N, which rest upon therails. The under faces of the lugs N are rounded, as shown, so as toride over the rail-joints without jar or injury to the cleaner.

The shovel or scraper M is formed with an eye or perforated lug, Z), towhich is pivotally connected a rod, 0, which extends upward through thefloor of the car into the housing 13, as shown in Fig. 2. \Vithin thehousing the rod 0 is connected with a pivoted lever, P, moving over acurved rack-bar and provided with a spring-pawl, Q, as shown in Fig. 2,by which means the rod may be raised and lowered. From this constructionit will be seen that by raising and lowering the rod 0 the shovel M willbe raised and lowered correspondingly,so that when a crossing is reachedthe scraper may be raised to avoid coming into contact therewith.

In the drawingsl have shown only one conveyer-trough I, projecting atits rear end over the right-hand side of the track, so as to dis chargethe snow, 850., over on that side of the road. Such a plan will be usedwhere there is a double track, because it will be seen that if theconveyer-trough extends over toward the left the snow would bedischarged into the other track, or if the conveyer be of such Wherethere is a single track the conveyer may be made -shaped and adapted todischarge thesnow equally on both sides. This, however, is a matter ofdetail and does not affeet the spirit of my invention.

The operation of my track-cleaner is as follows: The car being pulledalong, the shovel or scraper M gathers the snow from between the rails,and it passes from said shovel up onto the platform G, which is in closeproximity to the scraper. Of course as the car moves along the snowkeeps crowding up on the platform and tends to discharge the snowpreviously gathered, the trough I serving to direct the snow and causethe discharge at the proper point. As the car moves rapidly along aircomes into contact with the front wall, 0, and is deflected into chamberE, where it is discharged at a high velocity upon the snow, the air thusforced through the chamber E aiding materially in discharging the snow.

It will be noticed that as the scraper mechanism is suspended from therear end of the car-body it avoids any possibility of the car beingderailed by reason of the cleaner picking up a crossing or switch-rails.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is I 1. A car for usein cleanlng tracks,prov1ded with an air duct or passage open at bothends and closed at its sides,-with a chute or deflector at the rear ofsaid duct to throw the snow laterally, and with a scraper between thesaid deflector and air-passage.

2. A car for use in cleaning tracks,provided with an air duct or passageextending longitudinally through the car, open at both ends, closed atthe sides, and having an enlarged mouth, a chute or deflector at therear of said duct to throw the snowlaterally, and a scraper between thesaid deflector and air-passage.

8. A car provided with an air-ductbeneath its floor, in combination withascraper and the inclined trough.

4. The herein-described track-cleaner, consisting of car A, housing 13,havinginclined front wall, 0, chamber E beneath the car,

THOMAS ALEXANDER FRASER.

WVitnesses:

FRANK l-I. WINSOR, H. S. WINsoR.

